The Folks involved

The Circus Master:AKA The Lab LeaderKristal Cain

I grew-up chasing critters in the deep woods and creeks of East Texas. I earned a BSc in Wildlife Biology from Texas A&M and then worked as a wildlife biologist for a time before returning to academia. I completed my PhD with Ellen Ketterson at Indiana University. Click here to see someexcellent video footage of the junco. I then taught at University of Virginia's Mountain Lake Biological Station for the summer, The Field Biology of Sex and Sex Differences. Afterwards I moved to Australia to take-up a series of postdoctoral positions with a slew of great people including: Naomi Langmore, Andrew Cockburn, Sarah Pryke, Loeske Kruuk, Raoul Mulder, and Michelle Hall.I am now a Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Evolution & Genetics at the University of Auckland. If you are interested in working together check out the NEWS & OPPORTUNITIES page.​Click here to see my CV

Current student collaborators

Postgraduates

Aileen Sweeney: BSc (Hons) degree in Zoology, University College Cork in Ireland. Aileen is a PhD student focusing on the costs of ornamentation, with a particular focus on female ornamentation and how it may, or may not, trade-off withcognitive ability. She is using pukeko as a model for these questions. In a former life she studied vervets monkeys and baboons.

​@irishkoala

Yen Yi Loo:MSc Bird Conservation, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) . Yen Yi is a PhD candidate working on an endemic New Zealand wren, the tītipounamu or rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris). Her study aims to determine whether the rifleman are vocal learners by investigating the ontogeny and temporal changes in their vocal parameters, and its implication on the evolutionary origins of vocal learning in the avian phylogenetic tree. Her MSc project explored the quality of citizen science data for studying continental scale migration patterns. She is passionate about connecting people with nature through the world of birds, sounds and data.

https://twitter.com/looyenyi

https://looyenyi.wordpress.com/

Ines G. Moran: MSc Biology, University of WindsorInes G. Moran is a Ph.D. candidate working on bioacoustics, vocal ecology of birds and vocal networks. Her research investigates the evolution of vocal learning in birds, as well as dialects and vocal behaviours of kinship groups in the titpounamu/rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris) in New Zealand. Her MSc research focussed on the aggressive escalation interactions and seasonal vocal variation of Savannah Sparrows (Passer sandwichensis) in Canada. In her spare time, she likes to think about ideas to further explore the remarkable world of animal sounds.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IG_Moran​

Juliane Gaviraghi Mussoi: MSc Animal Ecology, Lund University, SwedenJuliane is a PhD candidate working on cognition, complex vocalisations and sexual selection in tomtit/miromiro (Petroica macrocephala). Her study aims to investigate whether individuals with high cognitive abilities also have a more complex song repertoire and a higher reproductive success. Her MSc research focused on mirror-mediated spatial location and problem-solving in great tits (Parus major). Juliane is passionate about understanding the cognitive aspects of bird behaviour.

Spencer McIntyre:MSc (Dist.) Biodiversity & Conservation, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland - (Main superviser Brendon Dunphy)Spencer is a PhD candidate working on seabird health in the Hauraki Gulf as an indicator of marine ecosystem function. His study aims to assess markers of physiological stress across a range of habitats in short ranging kororā/little penguins (Eudyptula minor), in comparison to more widely ranging kuaka/diving petrels (Pelecanoides urinatrix) and о̄i/grey faced petrels (Pterodroma macroptera gouldi). His MSc research focused on wetland habitat conservation using patchwork vegetation communities as indicators of localised impacts. Spencer is passionate about biodiversity conservation, and works closely with iwi, school groups, and other stakeholders in seabird population surveying and nature education.

Nicole Haerewa:BSCc degree in biological sciences, The University of Auckland (Main superviser Chrissie Painting) ​Nicole is an MSc student whose research aims to determine potential drivers of weapon size variation across a geographic range. As a great species model, she is using the weapon (rostrum) in male giraffe weevils which was previously shown to decrease in length in a north to south gradient. The giraffe weevils are a unique, endemic species to New Zealand with many behavioural traits that make them a prime species to observe behaviours in the field and maintain in a laboratory for experiments. She will be researching whether weapon size variation is driven by alterations in sexual selection pressures or temperature.

Undergraduates

Jamie Corkill: BS Biology,University of Auckland. DOC Summer Scholarship student. Jamie is working on a collaborative project with the Department of Conservation assessing the effect of roads on native bird communities. She completed a summer project examining the factors that influence nest success in pīwakawaka/fantails.

Former student collaborators

Former Grad students

Catherine Young: Evolution, Ecology & Genetics, Australian National University, PhD candidate; University of New South Wales, B.S. Biology with Honours 2007.Cat's dissertation is focused on understanding the proximate mechanisms and ultimate costs and fitness benefits of aggression in a highly colonial-nesting bird, the crimson finch, using a combination of field and laboratory experiments. She was looking at whether melanin and carotenoid based colour patches signal aggression, and how testosterone relates to these signal and behaviours. Cat became Dr. Young in 2017.

Undergraduate and high school collaborators (alpha order)

Krystle Ainsworth: Morehouse School of Medicine, MS Public Health; Spelman 2009, B.S. Biology. Krystle worked with me at Mountain Lake Biological Station as an REU (NSF's Research Experience for Undergraduates program) in 2008. Her project examined the relationship between developmental exposure to testosterone and adult maternal aggression in dark-eyed juncos.

Kaitlin Alford: Bird Banding Technician, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory; University of Virginia, B.A. Biology and Religious Studies. I met Kaitlin when she was an REU at Mountain Lake Biological Station. She later joined my 2013/14 field crew in Australia assisting with a long-term project on superb fairy-wren and cuckoo co-evolution. She also worked with me on a project examining seasonal patterns in female fairy-wren song structure.

Sofia Bertolini Meli: Indiana University undergraduate, Bloomington High School.Sofia and I met in 2009 when I acted as an assistant coach for her high school Science Olympiad Team. She went on to help me on a project that compared yolk hormone concentration in two populations of dark-eyed juncos.

Lauren Chaby:The Pennsylvania State University, Neuroscience & Ecology, PhD student; Clarkson University, B.S. Psychology & Biology.Lauren was a REU at Mountain Lake Biological Station in 2009. Her project explored the relationships between risk-taking behavior and reproductive success in female dark-eyed juncos.Click here to see Lauren talk about her current research in a TedX conference talk.

Tamara Fetters: University of Virginia, PhD student; Virginia Tech, B.S. Biology.Tamara was a REU at Mountain Lake Biological Station during the 2010 field season. Together we studied the role of preen oil in nest predation with a focus on contrasting preen oil from tree nesting to ground nesting birds.

Michelle Forquer: Indiana University, B.S. Biology & Chemistry.Michelle was an undergraduate research assistant from 2009-11. She assisted me in a project examining the links between testosterone in the yolk and nestling morphology. She also worked on a project quantifying inter-individual variation in female and male parental care.

Meelyn Pandit,Field Technician at Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Indiana University, B.S. Biology.Meelyn was an undergraduate research assistant in the Ketterson lab from 2010-13 working on a variety of projects. I also worked with Meelyn at Mountain Lake Biological Station. His project (supervised by Liz Carlton) examined the relationships between ornamentation and immune function in male dark-eyed juncos.

Miriam Rich:Harvard University, History of Science, graduate student; Swarthmore College, B.A. in Biology.Miriam was a REU at Mountain Lake Biological Station in 2009. Her project determined whether females exhibited a sex-specific response to simulated intruders. She is currently a PhD student focusing on the social and cultural history of medicine in the U.S., as it relates to gender and race.

Rochelle Rodgers:BS Biology,University of Auckland. Rochelle was a summer scholarship student. Her project tested for behavioural evidence of brain lateralization in pukeko. In other words, are pukekos left/right handed? She's currently writing up her findings for publication and preparing to travel the world.

Kate Heaphy: BS Biology,University of Auckland. Summer Scholarship student. Kate will be examining the song structure of pīwakawaka, testing for breeding stage and sex differences across the breeding season.